i had always heard/seen him referred to as the 'President & GM,' not CEO, though it may simply be a matter of semantics. the 'CEO' label conveys an aura of supreme authority, with greater ties to the ownership side, etc.

TRUE LOVE - Sometimes you know it the instant you see it across the bar.

I would have preferred Ujiri to anyone on this short-list, particularly if it's going to be an understudy position at least for a little while. I wonder if the idea of offering Ujiri a full GM title while he was here was ever discussed. But maybe Ujiri would rather move to another organization where he's starting fresh with more autonomy than he would have had here. For Bower and Lindsey, it would be so difficult to evaluate their track-record, and for Stefanski, the track record is really mixed. Although it's impossible to find a GM who doesn't have some bad trades or draft picks in their history. I think it's more important that you bring in a guy who will help create the right climate in the team: for a young team like the Raptors, that means a climate where hard work is rewarded with loyalty, and laziness or immaturity are punished.

It's actually a good time to be starting this search though, particularly if you're looking at poaching someone from another team. A cash-strapped team might put up less of a fight about losing an assistant GM if that guy is basically going to be sitting around doing little during the lockout year.

The truth is that no one knows who would make a good candidate for the Raptors. Fans like people they have heard of, but we know very little of how these guys produced, other than what little we've seen. Would Pritchard or Ujiri (who's got a job) or Stefanski make a good GM for the Raptors? Who knows. Pritchard apparently has some "personality" issues that Colangelo would probably not want, and rightly so. There are a multitude of skills that they would need, and being able to make trades is only one of them.

Pritchard has personality issues according to who? Paul Allen? The guy who fired Rich Cho after 10 months?

If anything, I'd say Paul Allen has personality issues. Kevin Pritchard did consistently excellent work in Portland, and is available. His only questionable decision was Roy's max contract, when apparently he was aware of the knee issues.

Pritchard has personality issues according to who? Paul Allen? The guy who fired Rich Cho after 10 months?

If anything, I'd say Paul Allen has personality issues. Kevin Pritchard did consistently excellent work in Portland, and is available. His only questionable decision was Roy's max contract, when apparently he was aware of the knee issues.

I heard stories about Pritchard and they were not from Paul Allen. Remember this is also the guy who tried to sue Memphis for wanting to sign Darius Miles. Pritchard also drafted Oden over Durant despite there being a fair bit of evidence that not only would Durant be a better player, but Oden would struggle with injuries throughout his career.

Chisholm's take on GM search

With every day that goes by, it becomes clearer and clearer why Bryan Colangelo's contract extension took so long. Since the announcement of his deal, we've learned that his contract runs for a much shorter length of time than was expected, and we've seen Colangelo "re-assign" head coach Jay Triano after offering his support to him at the end of the regular season.

MLSE clearly saw a need to stipulate some specific conditions after missing the playoffs in back-to-back seasons, and Colangelo - it would appear - is acquiescing to their demands. Up next on the docket is the hiring of a new executive for the front office, most likely with the title of general manager.

Now, to ease any confusion right off of the bat, Colangelo is not ceding control of the Toronto Raptors. He's going to remain as the president of the club, and for all intents and purposes, he's still going to be the man calling the shots with regards to roster and organizational moves. The team did not re-sign him just to neuter him into submission, but they did - it would appear - want him to expand his staff to include a prominent voice that might act as a counterbalance to his approach to team and roster building.

When the first rumblings of this move reached the press in the spring, it was implied that the Raptors were merely looking to replace Masai Ujiri, who left the organization to head up the Denver Nuggets. But when one takes a look at the candidates for the job who have emerged since then, it becomes clear that the team is looking to do much more than simply replace the inexperienced Ujiri.

The three most prominent names associated with the vacant position, as was reported by Yahoo!'s Adrian Wojnarowski last week, are Jeff Bower, formally the GM of the New Orleans Hornets, Ed Stefanski, former Nets and current Sixers GM, and Dennis Lindsey, the assistant GM for the San Antonio Spurs. All three of those men carry with them significant reputations, far more than Ujiri did when he was hired by Toronto, and any one of them would be a significantly bigger name than has ever worked under Colangelo in either Toronto or Phoenix. If Colangelo was in fact tasked with finding himself a workmate of near-equal stature to act as his sounding board, then he's got three pretty solid names at the top of his list.

However, despite the impressive resume's that each bring to the job, no one is exactly sure what any of them would do if they were hired by Colangelo. Colangelo has made specific mention of the fact that he'd be using the title of general manager as an enticement to high-profile candidates, but it would be a limited general manager's role when compared to the power most similarly-titled executives wield on other NBA squads. In theory, the job could be tailored to the man hired to fill it, but that does leave the question as to what are the empirical qualifications the team is looking for to give context to their active search.

Considering that Colangelo would still be handling trades, signings and the draft, it would seem that the only overriding qualification that the Raptors are looking for is someone who has the experience and clout to talk Colangelo down from some of his more outrageous trades and signings. A voice in the room with actual managerial experience (Lindsey may not have ever been a GM, but his voice carries weight) that can force Colangelo to consider the advisability of signings like Hedo Turkoglu's $50-million deal from 2009.

When it comes to small moves Colangelo has been consistently solid in Toronto, as has he been with the draft, but when he shoots for the moon, one gets the impression that there isn't anyone strong enough around Colangelo to get him to fully reflect on the move before he signs off on it. While it's hard to say how attractive that job would be for any of the candidates that the team is chasing, it's pretty hard to deny that such a figure is currently missing from Toronto's front office.

To that end, Stefanski actually makes for a slightly on-point candidate. As GM of the Nets, Stefanski was not only involved in getting Jason Kidd from Colangelo in exchange for Stephon Marbury (a move that secured New Jersey two trips to the NBA Finals), but he was also instrumental in hoodwinking Rob Babcock into trading Vince Carter from Toronto for pennies on the dollar.

If you're looking for a GM that can prevent Colangelo and Toronto from making terrible moves, getting a guy involved in the worst move that each made might not be a bad start. It might also help that he is used to acting as GM under a domineering president (Rod Thorn, in both New Jersey and Philadelphia), although he may also be eager to escape from such an arrangement with his next NBA job.

The Raptors are still very early in the process of seeking out this high-ranking executive. With the lockout continuing on with no end in sight, making expensive hires is not exactly a priority in most NBA offices, so Toronto isn't on the same kind of timetable that they set for themselves when they hired Dwane Casey in advance of the draft. No doubt Colangelo would like to have someone in place whenever the abbreviated free agency period begins, but until the serious negotiations begin winding down the lockout, no urgency needs to be placed on this search.

Whenever the hiring does finally go down, though, it will be very interesting to hear exactly what this new executive's actual responsibilities will be while acting as a GM under someone as hands-on as Colangelo. Regardless, if the man hired is one of the aforementioned names it would count as yet another strong hire in a summer of strong off-the-court additions for the Raptors organization. At a time when no players can be traded or signed, it's really all that the team can do for now to improve its fortunes.

Pritchard has personality issues according to who? Paul Allen? The guy who fired Rich Cho after 10 months?

If anything, I'd say Paul Allen has personality issues. Kevin Pritchard did consistently excellent work in Portland, and is available. His only questionable decision was Roy's max contract, when apparently he was aware of the knee issues.

While Stefanski does have some pluses in his resume, it is ironic that he achieved them when under the "watchful" eye of Thorn. When he did move on to Philadelphia and was and indep. gm he made questionable moves signing Brand and Iguodala to the contracts he did. So it would seem to my jaundiced eye that he works better under "supervision".

Who knows, BC and Stefanski might make a good couple. My own view is we need a really good talent evaluator who proposes/does the leg work on gettable players (eg. out of place in their current environ.) who will mesh around a core on the Raps and then let BC do the deal closing. BC has been good on the draft age player choices (none in the second round though) but fairly abysmal on his trades/free agent signings.

This doesn't sound right to me. Why would BC want to bring in a new GM when he has repeatedly stated that he wants to see things through here in Toronto? I'm wondering if this guy they hire won't simply be a scapegoat. This team will struggle for the next year or two. So, to take the heat off of Colangelo, why not hire a GM and make him take the blame for the team's lack of success even though we know it will be BC still calling the shots. It's important to remember too that there's a lot of confusion surrounding who will ultimately own this team. Will it be Rogers, Bell, Shaw or will Tannebaum somehow find a way to capture ownership. We know Tannebaum backs BC as his GM so perhaps this is his and BC's way of buying time and having someone else take the blame for the team's lack of success in the next couple of years. Reminds me of the 1993 Canadian election when Brian Mulroney knew the Tories would lose. So, he resigned and the Tories let Kim Campbell be the scapegoat in the election polls.

lol brian will probably hire stefanski , call all the shots and if anything goes wrong he can blame him and if it goes right take all the credit

I don't really understand this theory.
What will he have to blame on Stefanski? He's already made the draft pick himself. He's already assembled MOST of the core going forward. I'm not sure what he will have to blame on Stefanski (or whomever the GM is). Alot of teams have Presidents that make the trades. Or owners that 'make' the trades. This is simply a matter of that having more knowledge, and more educated opinion around the front-office is a good thing.

"That was Nasty right? Cocked that Joint back and banged on 'em." -James Johnson

I don't really understand this theory.
What will he have to blame on Stefanski? He's already made the draft pick himself. He's already assembled MOST of the core going forward. I'm not sure what he will have to blame on Stefanski (or whomever the GM is). Alot of teams have Presidents that make the trades. Or owners that 'make' the trades. This is simply a matter of that having more knowledge, and more educated opinion around the front-office is a good thing.

If BC doesn't fire everyone (including those above him) and run the show all by himself, obviously he's trying to create insulation against all blame. Obviously.

What two new expansion teams are you including in that poignant analysis?

Also, this isn't that much different from what Chicago did with Paxson and Forman. Only after the Paxson-Del Negro incident did Forman get more say as GM.

In the end, you're making way too big a deal over labels.

Thank Christ someone here has some sense. The idea is to add another strategic minded GM to weigh in and help the TEAM make better decisions as far as players go. BC is not looking for a scape goat if he was why would he publicly say that he would have final say in all matters? If he wanted a scape goat wouldn't he give the impression that the GM had final say? Has BC ever tried to hide from his decisions? He has always taken responsibility for the choices he has made both good and bad.

We are trying to build a better front office team as well as on the court team.

The truth is that no one knows who would make a good candidate for the Raptors. Fans like people they have heard of, but we know very little of how these guys produced, other than what little we've seen. Would Pritchard or Ujiri (who's got a job) or Stefanski make a good GM for the Raptors? Who knows. Pritchard apparently has some "personality" issues that Colangelo would probably not want, and rightly so. There are a multitude of skills that they would need, and being able to make trades is only one of them.

Very good point. I think what we get to see and hear about these guys is just the tip of the iceberg. What they really do and how they affect the growth and development of the franchise is a mystery to most of us.

Thank Christ someone here has some sense. The idea is to add another strategic minded GM to weigh in and help the TEAM make better decisions as far as players go. BC is not looking for a scape goat if he was why would he publicly say that he would have final say in all matters? If he wanted a scape goat wouldn't he give the impression that the GM had final say? Has BC ever tried to hide from his decisions? He has always taken responsibility for the choices he has made both good and bad.

We are trying to build a better front office team as well as on the court team.

I thought most around here had this view. It seems to be those who were looking for his head before the extension who are now the ones claiming he seeks a scape goat. Glancing through the thread, those who think this move to be negative are in the minority.